FLYING LEAD TRY OUT: RIF WAR.

One of my recent birthday presents was the Flying Lead set of rules. These rules are from the Songs Of ..... stable of rules by Ganesha Games. They are subtly optimised for ranged combat.

For this week's Thursday game, I thought I'd give them a try. The game uses some of the painted Rif War figures picked up on the Skelp! bring & buy. Some of the terrain, the desert outcrops, were bought at the Targe b&b.

          Initial terrain set up. The Spanish are in the oasis (literally!) awaiting deployment.
I adapted a sci fi scenario from the book. This has a 'never ending cannon fodder' mechanism. The scenario saw the advance guard a patrol of Spanish waiting at the oasis to redezvous with the rest of the patrol.

                              The initial Spanish deployment.
The local Rif leader, Al T'oo, was heading towards the oasis, but his scouts spot the Spanish. He now has to leave the area safely. The scouts, one of them a marksman, take shots at the Spanish to keep them occupied.

The Rif scouts mowe forward and engage the Spanish. They are in turn engaged by the Spanish LMG team.

       Al T'oo skirts the action with his two man fanatic bodyguard and trusted medic.

The shooting attracts the attention of musket armed locals, who distract the Spanish, whose better marksmanship takes a toll. Whilst being shaken and killed by the Spanish fire, the most they manage to do is force a few Spanish to take cover.

Disaster strikes the Rif! Al T'oo is shot through the head (gory kill) and the body guard scatter in terror. This also affects some of the rescue squad that has appeared on the board. All the Spanish have to do now is mop up.

Rick had not played any of the Songs games before and I wanted to let him compare the system to Fubar, which we have been using recently. This was my first time using Flying Lead. There were quite a few diferences between this and SOB&H. In SOB&H, the melee and ranged combat systems are the same. In FL they are separate and have different effects. But once I got used to that and Rick got to grips with the Songs system, we moved along quickly.

The game lent itself well to narrative and gave a believable result: all you look for in a wargame.